Journalism students operate in an environment of great promise and also uncertainty:  the promise of what ever-evolving technology offers you as a journalist and the uncertainty of how to prepare for the newsroom you’ll enter when you graduate.  Over and over, we hear students and educators ask a version of the same question: How can we learn enough—or how can I teach beginning journalists enough—knowing that the technology we’re using today will be superseded by tomorrow’s innovations?

 

But what if, in our quest to learn or teach as many of the newest trends as possible, we’ve been asking the wrong question?  What if a journalist who understands a core set of professional skills really can keep up?

 

Here’s our answer:  We’ve written a book on news reporting and writing that treats journalism as a way of thinking.  It situates practical instruction within the ideals of journalism.  By guiding students through the why and the how of good journalism practices, we provide the flexibility to adapt to change. 

 

At the same time, we’re providing this companion website to keep the book dynamic.  Students and educators will be able to follow links to current examples of excellent news reporting, of journalists using social media in exciting ways, and of visual, audio and text-based news stories.